Pony Comes Home from Vietnam
by ponnyboy
Summary: Title explains all. Please read & review


**Hi, This is the revised version, hopefully completely corrected and easier to read. Enjoy.**

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Darry looked around the arrivals lounge and sighed. He'd been waiting for over two hours. Around him, hundreds of people milled, greeting each other. In the row of seats next to his, two women bawled, each obviously overjoyed at seeing the other again. He scanned the arrivals board again, looking for the line of text that would announce his brother's arrival. Ponyboy. A unique name, but nonetheless, it suited his brother perfectly.

He was all grown up now. It seemed like only a few days that he was born, but in reality it was years. 1952 was an interesting year, but the last couple had been like one long rollercoaster. Only a few months earlier, the geniuses at NASA had managed to send a man to the moon. Pony could've been that man, he thought bitterly. But no, he had been sent off to the jungle. Since then a year had past, and Darry was anxious to see him again. He was happy and excited, but still anxious just the same. Would the war have changed him? Or would he still be the shy, quiet person he was before. Who knows? That was another bitter thought. How would it have changed him? It had certainly got him half-killed. He could still remember a few days ago, when he had got the telephone call. Luckily, he had been at home instead of work. A loud, egotistic man had politely and without any remorse told him that _'Mr Curtis? This is Sergeant Major Roberts here. I'm in charge of young Pony and the rest of his squad. I'm just ringing to tell you that, unfortunately, Private Curtis will be flying home in two days time. He has been hit by a piece of shrapnel in his face, arm and leg. He should be fine after surgery, and we hope that he will be landing in Oklahoma on the 24__th__ at about eleven hundred hours. That is all. Goodbye.'_ And with that, he had hung up, not giving Darry any time to ask how Pony was, or how it had happened. Darry's response was 'unfortunately'? Don't make me laugh. It was the best thing that could have happened. What an idiot that man was.

The clock on the small was slowly making its way around to one o'clock. Through the huge glass windows on the side of the building, you could see out to the runway and the tarmac. Suddenly a voice came over the loudspeaker. _'Flight 2206 from Vietnam should be landing shortly. We apologise for the delay. Thank you.' _Finally. Sure enough, Darry could see a plane coming into land on the runway. He recognized it as it touched down. It was a McDonnell Douglas C-9, the same type that had flown Pony off to war. As it turned off the runway, and taxied towards the terminal, the front door opened. Once it had stopped, a set of stairs was pushed up to it, and several men in army uniforms started to disembark. They weren't close enough for him to distinguish them though. Or rather, it was, but they all looked the same; short-cropped hair, and each in exactly the same uniform. If they had their hair, it would be easy enough to work out which one was Pony. His would be long and reddish-brown, greased back. It was how all the 'greasers' kept theirs. As they got closer, He saw him. He was laughing, and had his arm around one of the others. A huge scar ran down the edge of his face, and Darry noticed that he was limping. But, he seemed okay and happy, and that was all that really mattered. When they disappeared through the doors to customs, the butterflies in his stomach increased their fluttering tenfold. Other men and women stood up, all waiting for their sons, husbands, brothers or friends to come through the double doors. Then they did, all the women started screaming and running. Darry just stood there, too dazed to move. There he was, coming towards him, grinning. He reached Darry and just stood there, the grin still plastered on his face. Then, with a glint in his eye he asked, 'What, no welcome home hug?'. That shook him out of it. Darry flung his arms around him and pulled him close.

'Welcome home, Pony.' Tears began to stream down the older brother's face.

'It's nice to be home.' He too started to cry. All around them were seas of people holding their loved ones. They pulled apart, and Darry put his arm around his brother's shoulder. 'Wanna say goodbye to anyone?'

Pony looked at him. 'Let's just go home Darry.' And with that, Darry picked up his bag and they walked out of the doors to the truck, both happy to be going home.

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